EX ADAMAWA ACTING GOVERNOR JAILED
Umaru Fintiri |
On Thursday, A Federal High Court in Abuja ordered the remand of a former Acting Governor of Adamawa State, Umaru Fintiri, in Kuje prison, Abuja, over five counts of money laundering charges involving about N1.9bn preferred against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
Justice Ahmed Mohammed made
the order after the ex-acting Governor pleaded not guilty to all the five
counts on Thursday.
The EFCC arraigned Fintiri
along with Mayim Constructions and Properties Limited (the second
defendant).
Shortly after Fintiri
pleaded not guilty to all the charges, the court heard his bail application but
adjourned till Friday to deliver its ruling on it.
Justice Mohammed ordered
that the former acting governor be remanded in Kuje prison pending when the
court would deliver ruling on the bail application on Friday.
In the charges numbered
FHC/ABJ/CR/131/2016, and filed on June 16, 2016, the EFCC alleged that the
accused committed the money laundering offences involving an aggregate sum of
about N1.9bn between October 2, 2014 and July 2015.
In counts 1 and 2 Fintiri
was accused of indirectly disguising the origin of total sum of N220m (N80m and
N120m) on October 2, 2014.
He was said to have
committed the offence in the two counts by transferring the various sums of
money from account number 0313000301 with Ecobank Plc and operated by Timeplex
Nigeria Limited into the account number 5742019591 domiciled with the same bank
and operated by Mayim Construction and Properties Limited.
The prosecution alleged
that Fintiri knew the sums of money to be part of proceeds of an unlawful act
of “bribery and corruption”, stating that the alleged offences were
contrary to section 15(2), (a) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act, 2012
and punishable under section 15(3) and (4) of the same law.
He was also accused of
committing similar offence in Count 4 by indirectly concealing the origin of
the aggregate sum of N550m on October 9, 2016.
But in the said count 4,
the accused was said to have indirectly disguised the sum of N550m through ”a
term loan of 12 months” purportedly granted to him by Ecobank Plc “for the
acquisition of a tea plantation farm from Nigeria Agricultural Bank in Taraba
State”.
The former governor was
said to have repaid the loan within three months while he was the acting
governor of Adamawa State.
In count 3, he was accused
of making cash payment of N220m, without going through a financial
institution, for the purchase of Plot 7, Gana Street, Maitama Abuja, sometimes
in July 2015.
He was said to have made
the cash payment to one Hashim Dikko.
This was said to have
violated section 1(a) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act, 2012 and
punishable under section 16(2)(b) of the same Act.
In count 5, he was accused
of retaining in his US Dollars account number 5742019601 domiciled with Ecobank
Plc the total sum of $4,830,000 (estimated at N970m at the then N200 to $1
official exchange rate) on June 3, 2014.
The EFCC alleged that the
money was part of proceeds of unlawful act of corruption and he thereby
committed an offence under section 15(2), (a) of the Money Laundering
(Prohibition) Act, 2011 as amended in 2012 and punishable under Section 15(3)
and (4) of the same Act.
EX ADAMAWA ACTING GOVERNOR JAILED
Reviewed by adeyemo nathaniel
on
Thursday, June 30, 2016
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